Introduction
In dealing with the etymology, Greek and Latin being the dominant languages since ancient times when the art and sciences started to provide importance to the way people live were inherently used. Today, most scientific terms are based on Greek and Latin as these have provided classic as well as unchanging form and structure that supports what scientists and researchers need. Words have always been considered a part of human culture and social life so that these also grown, evolve, and even go extinct.
Etymology, the study of the history of words provides the stage when they entered a language, provide a source, as well as how their form and meaning have changed over time. At most, etymology made use of philology or the study of how words change from culture to culture. The method of comparative linguistics is also applied by etymologists to reconstruct information about words that are too old for direct information. Related languages are analyzed through the comparative method wherein linguists make inferences, about shared parent language or vocabulary. Word roots are found this way and maybe traced back to their origin (Lieberman, 2005).
The etymological theory recognizes that words originated through limited ways with basic mechanisms as follows:
- Borrowing or the adoption of loanwords from other languages.
- Word formation as derivation and compounding.
- Onomatopoeia and sound symbolism or the creation of imitative words.
In addition, new words tend to become obscured through time due to sound change, and semantic change. In most cases, combinations of etymological mechanisms were applied.
Hence, the combination of sound change and semantic change usually created etymological connections that are difficult to detect by merely looking at the modern word forms. Components of compounded words further yielded modern languages loaf and ward (Lieberman, 2005).
This paper shall focus on the etymology of 15-25 words selected to form this passage “What Killed the Woolly Mammoth?” conducted by Sedwick (2008).
Discussion
Biology is from the Greek word Βιολογία – βίος, broken down as bio, or “life”; and λόγος, logos or “speech” which literally would mean “to talk about life.” Biology is generally understood as the scientific study of life which examines in detail the structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, and distribution of living things. Furthermore, Biology classifies and describes organisms, their functions, how species come into existence, and the interactions they have with each other as well as with their natural environments. The unifying principles form the foundation of modern biology which is cell theory, evolution, genetics, and homeostasis (King and Roberts, 1986).
The cell is a Latin word that may mean a “small room,” and originally cella or “small hut.”
Evolution is another Latin word that means “to unfold, open out, expand.” It is from the Latin evolve that means “unroll”, and from ex which means “out” added with volvere meaning “to roll”. (OED, 2008). The word was first used in the modern scientific sense in 1832 by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell.
About the article, this paper proceeds to the summary of the paper which provides a glimpse on the background of the wooly mammoth believed to have walked through the frozen steppes of the Eurasian continents in the last glacial advance. Glacial is basically from the Latin word glacialis which means “icy, frozen or full of ice” or glacies which also means “ice.” The article proceeded to claim that the huge beasts also thrive in the arid tundra, with arid meaning “dry, parched” from the Latin aridus and from arere meaning “to be dry.” (OED, 2008).
By 6,000, the mammoth was almost extinct during the Holocene epoch. While holocene is French, it originally came from the Greek terms holo meaning “hole” and kainos, meaning “new” or “recent”. However, the mammoths, according to David NoguĂ©s-Bravo and colleagues were finally erased on the face of the earth due to climate change. Climate is from the Greek word climatis meaning “region, zone”. Mikhail Admas who retrieved the first fossilized woolly mammoth remains from Russia in 1806 stoked the interest of scientists in this ancient relative of the Asian elephant. Since, they had speculated on habitat disappearance, warmed planet, vegetation and precipitation, and human hunters as causes. Habitat is believed to have been used since 1762 as a technical term in Latin texts on English flora and fauna which means “it inhabits”. It is also related to habitare meaning “to live, dwell,” and frequently of habere which means “to have, to hold, possess.” Planet, on the other hand, comes from the Latin planeta or Greek’s asteres planetai or “wandering stars.” Vegetation comes from the Latin vegetatus, or vegetare meaning “to enliven, to animate.”
In a study of NoguĂ©s-Bravo et al. as mentioned by Sedwick (2008), it attempted to generate quantitative estimates of the interplay between the mammoth’s disappearing range and warming versus hunting. The authors performed quantitative modeling of the climatic conditions inhabited by the mammoth in several periods of the last ice age with the model relating the fossil record and showing the distribution and age of mammoth remains. Model in this way is originally traced from the Latin modulus meaning to “measure, standard.” Condition originates from the Latin condicionem which means “agreement, situation.”
The study found that mammoths experienced a catastrophic loss of habitat: as the last glaciers retreated and the planet warmed, 90% of the animals’ former habitat disappeared. Catastrophe is to be understood as from the Greek word katastrephein menaing “to overturn” and from kata menaing “down” added to strephein meaning “turn.” About 126,000 years ago, only 0.3 million square kilometers of prime habitat existed and the animal is believed to have teetered on the brink of extinction since they are geographically isolated groups experienced declines in genetic diversity and fitness. Isolate is believed to come from the Latin insulatus meaning “made into an island” and in turn originating from insula meaning “island.”
But even if some mammoths managed to survive that catastrophe, the remaining mammoth herds had to face another threat: human hunters that drove them to extinction by 126,000 years ago. By the study’s estimate at that time, each human killed just one mammoth every 3 years to drive them to extinction. Extinct comes from the Latin extinctus or of extinguere meaning “of fires” or the sense of “dying out”.
The words used in this article which are basically Latin or Greek of origins are Glacial Arid, Holocene, Climate, Planet, Habitat, Vegetation, Catastrophe, Isolate, and Extinct. The terms are mostly describing an existing period or place such as glacial, arid, Holocene, planet, and habitat. Vegetation on the other is a noun that describes or refers to existing plant life of a region although it may also refer to the ground cover life forms, structure, spatial extent or any other specific botanical or geographic characteristics. Extinction on the other hand is another biological and ecological word referring to the cessation of presence of a species or group of taxa which is directly linked to reduction of biodiversity.
These terms were important in the article as the article describes a certain passage or event that transpired on the extinct mammoths. They provided the exact backdrop to make a certain scene clear and understandable for the readers or those who would be interested about the study with regards to the cause of the extinction of the huge beast. At most and more specifically, the terms glacial, arid and catastrophe refer to climate and climate change while the word isolate may scientifically refer to speciation or separation of two populations of a species. Other supportive terms biology, condition, model, cell, evolution, among others used by this paper were equally important as basis for the understanding of the topic.
Conclusion
Through the use and understanding of the origins of words in the field of biology, certain aspects or conditions of terms embody that which specifically denote an idea or certain character and event.
Using the article that provided a synopsis of the extinction of mammoths, this paper was able to indicate the relevance of biological terms with regards to history and denotation. It provided a clearer as well as authority on the events and biological words mentioned in this study. Mammoths are no longer a part of the modern planet although research has indicated their existence or presence in a given period. These were further analyzed and given a deeper understanding so as to clear issues about animal species extinction. While humans may be an specie that is difficult to predict as extinct in the imagination, science fiction and science provides valid details on how species may become extinct sooner or later.
It is therefore concluded that Greek and Latin etymological terms in most fields of the sciences are important and gives credence to their uses. Studies in the filed of biology uses a lot of Greek and Latin originated terms that were used a long, long time ago, and would still be useful now and in the years to come. It is therefore necessary that classical roots be determined in order to provide a continuing validity for words of ancient as well as modern times.
Reference
Sedwick C (2008) “What Killed the Woolly Mammoth?” PLoS Biol 6(4): e99.
King, TJ & Roberts, MBV (1986). Biology: A Functional Approach. Thomas Nelson and Sons.
Online Etymology Dictionary (2008). Web.
Liberman, Anatoly (2005) “Word Origins…and How We Know Them: Etymology for Everyone.”